Netherlands calls for EU sanctions enforcement headquarters

Although Russia suffers greatly from the EU’s restrictive measures, “at the same time they are being evaded on a massive scale”, Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said on Monday (20 February).

“We currently have too little capacity in the EU to analyse, coordinate, and promote new sanctions – that is why I would like us to set up a sanctions headquarters in Brussels, aimed at circumvention,” Hoekstra said.

According to the Dutch minister, “this would be a place where member states can pool information and resources on effectiveness and evasion, where we do much more to fight circumvention”.

The new sanctions headquarters would establish a watch list of sectors and trade flows with a high circumvention risk, according to the Dutch proposal. “Companies will be obliged to include end-use clauses in their contracts so that their products don’t end up in the Russian war machine,” Hoekstra said.

“The EU must use the full strength of its collective economic strength and criminal justice systems against those who assist in sanction evasion – by naming, shaming, sanctioning, and prosecuting them,” he said.

The proposal includes measures to strengthen the feedback loop between enforcement practice at the national level and EU level, strengthen the EU point of contact for sanctions circumvention, identify concrete steps for diplomatic outreach with partners and expand listing capacities.

“There is support, but we will need to specify what it can do,” Hoekstra said.

Currently, the decision of implementing sanctions lies with member states, who decide on the introduction of the bloc’s restrictive measures by unanimity, with their implementation lying largely in the hands of EU capitals.

Sourse: Euractiv